12 Parenting Time and Visitation Schedules

The children reside with custodial parent and spend one evening per week with the non-custodial parent, in addition to alternating weekends. For example, the children would visit with the non-custodial parent every Wednesday night from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., and again on alternating weekends from 6:00 p.m. Friday to 6:00 p.m. Sunday.

This sample parenting time schedule resembles the alternating weekends plan, but extends through Monday. In this case, alternating weekend visits would begin at 6:00 p.m. on Friday and end at 6:00 p.m. on Monday.

The children would reside primarily with the custodial parent, while visiting with the non-custodial parent evening a week, and every other weekend (from Friday to Monday). For example, visits would take place from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. every Wednesday and every other weekend from 6:00 p.m. Friday to 6:00 p.m. Monday.

The children reside with the custodial parent most of the time, with overnight visits with non-custodial parent one night during the week and every other weekend. In this case, parents must factor in the children's school routine when deciding when the mid-week visit will begin and end. For example, the children might be picked up at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday (as shown here) and delivered to school on Thursday mornings. Or, in the case of young children, the non-custodial parent might pick them up at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday and return them at 9:00 a.m. Thursday. In addition, the children would enjoy overnight visits on alternating weekends from 6:00 p.m. Friday – 6:00 p.m. Sunday.

This schedule would be the same as the one outlined above, but the alternating weekends would extend through 6:00 p.m. on Monday.

While alternating weekends has become a popular choice, keeping track of whether you'll have the kids on a weekend that's three months away can get tricky. Implementing a first, third, and alternating fifth weekends schedule resolves this issue. It's similar to alternating weekends, but allows families to more easily plan ahead, since each parent will know which weekends they have the children without having to count ahead every other weekend on a calendar. However, the one drawback is there are only a few months a year that actually have five weekends. In the example shown here, visits would take place from 6:00 p.m. Friday – 6:00 p.m. Sunday on the designated weekends.

Visits last from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. one night per week, in addition to 6:00 p.m. Friday to 6:00 p.m. Sunday on designated weekends.

This schedule allows visits to take place every first, third, and fifth weekend of the month from Friday evening through Monday morning.

Using the schedule shown here, the children would enjoy extended visits every first, third, and fifth weekend of the month, with one mid-week evening visit taking place each week.

With this routine, the children visit every first, third, and fifth weekend of the month, along with one mid-week overnight. As you can see from the calendar, this schedule allows the children to enjoy significant chunks of parenting time with both parents.